JOHNSON, John Frederick
| Service Number: | 225 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 14th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 13 March 1877 |
| Home Town: | Richmond (V), Yarra, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Housing Construction Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 29 May 1915, aged 38 years |
| Cemetery: |
Shrapnel Valley Cemetery, Gallipoli plot III row F grave 25, Shrapnel Valley Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Dec 1914: | Involvement Corporal, 225, 14th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec 1914: | Embarked Corporal, 225, 14th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne |
John’s gold locket
John’s granddaughter Merle has a gold locket that belonged to John. John gave the locket to his eldest child Irene Irene and he asked that it be passed on to Irene’s eldest child. The locket was given to John in gratitude by the parents of a child who John saved from drowning before WW1. Irene was only 7 when John went to war. He was killed in action. John’s granddaughter was born 26 years after John died so she never got to meet John. She cherishes the locket.
Submitted 9 April 2022 by Joanne Burnett
Biography contributed by Joanne Burnett
John Frederick Marshall JOHNSON was born John Frederick Marshall MUIR in Hobart Tasmania in 1877. His mother Ann Jane MARSHALL subsequently married William Johnson, and John Frederick Marshall MUIR then adopted the Johnson surname. John had a younger half brother Albert Tasman Jubilee Johnson. the family moved to Victoria.
John's biological father John Downie MUIR married Selina Garth in 1879, giving John at least 3 half siblings (Percival, Janet and Linda) he did not have contact with growing up.
In Melbourne in 1902 John married Blanche Stafford, the daughter of Annie Elizabeth Mitchell and Henry Cohen Stafford a Lighthouse keeper at Split Point Victoria.
At the time of his enlistment, John and Blanche lived in North Richmond Victoria, and had 5 young children - John, William, Irene, Bertha and Caroline.
John enlisted in the AIF in September 1915 at the age of 37, and was assigned to 14 Battalion. 14 Battalion trained at Broadmeadows Victoria before setting sail for Egypt on 22 December on the Ulysses. John was promoted to Corporal on 22 December 1914.
14 Battalion landed in Gallipoli Turkey on 25 April 1915, as part of the ANZAC forces.
On 29 May 1915 John was killed in action, by a shot through his neck. 14 Battalion war diary of Major Dare (awm4-23/31/8) shows the 14 Battalion were fighting heavy machine gun fire, shrapnel and shelling at Courtneys Post in Monash Valley on that day.
John Frederick Marshall Johnson is buried in Shrapnel Valley cemetery in Turkey.
Biography contributed by Joanne Burnett
correction to previously submitted biography:
John's wife Blanche Stafford's mother was Caroline Elza Tomlinson NOT Annie Mitchell (entered in error).
John was given the rank of Corporal on enlistment, probably because he had completed 4 years as a Senior Cadet prior to enlisting
Johns war records do not state the exact cause of death, but his daughter irene told me that her mother Blanche said John had been shot in the neck. A cause of death report for another soldier Elliott is incorrectly included with John's official war record.
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